Have you ever wanted tostart a junior program but

don't know how to do so? Theidea is not as hard as you maythink, but it does take time to

grow, as wel l as a lot ofimaginat ion. By s tar t ing a

junior development program,you can give your loca l

riders a chance to seewhat cycling is allabout, and perhapsyou can mot ivatethem to pers is tand become thenext Lance

Armstrong or GregLeMond.

S ta r t i ng a j u n i o rd e v e l o p m e n t team is no

di f ferent from start ing a regularUSA Cycling club. Before you getracers on the road, you shoulddeve lop a basic plan regard inghow your p rogram will beadmin is te red . To get s ta r ted , Isuggest that you consider the sixbasic adminis t rat ive steps thatare out l ined in USA Cyc l ing ' s"Sport Coach Manual":

i. Set short- term and long-term goals. (What do you wantto accomplish?)

2. Develop a plan for theseason. (How do you want toadminister your program? Is ita y e a r l o n g or s u m m e rprogram?)

3. Develop a budget. (Howmuch will all this cost, andhow do you get funding?)

4. Recru i t a th le tes intoyour cycl ing program. (Howwill you get racers involved?)

BY LEONARDO CAMPQS-MQYA

5. Manage a s s i s t a n t s and othervo lunteers . (Do your assis tants knowwhat to do?)

6. Deve lop a "r isk managemen t "approach to liability issues in coaching.(Are your activities insured?)

As part of your p lann ing p r o c e s s ,assemble a team cadre who will assistyou in running your program. Try to get aUSA Cycling-l icensed coach and a USCFand /o r NORBA race off ic ial as part ofyour s ta f f . L i c e n s e d c o a c h e s canpurchase coaching insurance from USACyc l i ng and can help you deve loptra in ing programs that are based oncurrent coaching techniques. By havingrace officials on your staff, you will havepeople who know the of f ic ia l rules ofcompetition and will be able to help yourun training races as part of your regularprogram.

Once you have an idea how you wantto operate your program, the next step isto get riders involved. Recruit ing racersshould be a constant effort. In additionto visiting obvious recruiting places (i.e.schools, youth centers, etc.), the bestway you can a t t r a c t new r ide rs is toorganize various USA Cycling-sanctionedevents throughout the year. Races allowpeople to see what your events are allabout. Since your club is organizing theevent, you will be able to get your club'sname out to the genera l public. Byhosting your own races, you are able toshow potential racers that you are tryingto create cycling opportunit ies for yourexisting team members.

Every juniors program should try to getracers to one of USA Cycling's RegionalDevelopment Camps. The developmentcamps are in one way that riders can gaina c c e s s to na t iona l and e l i t e - l eve l

U S A C Y C L I N G

ureprograms. At these camps, coaches areable to identify talented riders, and helpeveryone deve lop n e c e s s a r y ski l ls.Riders come to camps as young as 12y e a r s o f age, wh i ch g ivesc o a c h e s a c h a n c e to gauged e v e l o p m e n t as t h e y r e t u r nannually.

When you are operating yourjuniors development program,always keep in mind that theracers are not adults. This mightseem like an obvious detail, butquite a few junior racers simplygive up on cycl ing because ithas ceased to be fun. In mostcases, one will not be able toget on the podium immediately,so racers must be taught that ittakes some time before one canreach the upper levels ofcycling. Hopefully, by having aj u n i o r s p rog ram, you will beable to motivate the cyclists tomake this a life-long endeavor.

Velo Club Ole SpicesUp Wisconsin

During the last two years thatVelo Club Ole/Team Bellin

Health has been headquar tered inGreen Bay, Wis., i t has qu ick lyes tab l i shed i tsel f as No r theas tWisconsin's premier cycling group. Theclub currently has a roster of more than90 riders throughout W i s c o n s i n andIllinois, and hosts various cycling eventsthroughout these states.

Velo Club Ole /Team Bellin Heath isno s t ranger to the cyc l ing scene . Itstarted out as a small Chicagoland road

Leonardo Campos-Moya is the teammanager for Velo Club Ole/Team BellinHealth in Green Bay, Wis. He can bereached at lcamposmoya@humana.com.

squad and has cont inued to growthroughout the years. Brothers Leon andLeonardo Campos-Moya first establishedVelo Club Ole as "El Gato Negro BicycleRacing Team" in 1998 in Chicago. By the2000 season, the club changed its nameto Velo Club Ole, in order to aid in namerecognition, while reflecting its missionto p romote cycl ing among minori t iesand women.

During the summer of 2000, when

L e o n a r d o ' s o f f i c ere loca ted to Green Bay,

he moved the c lubadministration with him. By

the following year, with theass i s tance of cur ren t

women's program director,Cor ie Berr igan, Leona rdomerged Velo Club Ole with the

exist ing Green Bay -basedBellin Health Cycling Team.

"I was real lucky. Green Bayis a real hotbed for cycling, andby bringing a USA Cycling clubto the area, we were able toreally make things happen. Oursuccess was also aided by thefac t that our long-t imesponso rs Rudy Pro ject andPedro's continued to supportour new program. Wi thouttheir help, we could not havedone any of this," Leonardosaid.In order to provide cyclingopportunit ies for its

members, Velo Club Ole%»-_ \̂ organizes various local

races . In 2001, VeloClub Ole organ ized

cyclo-cross state championship races inIllinois and Wisconsin. This season, theclub will add NORBA Short TrackChampionship races in both states tothe club's race ca lendar , as well asother local cycling programs.

According to Leonardo, "Through ourefforts, we are certain that we can makeGreen Bay a wor thwhi le stop in anyracing calendar. Northeast Wisconsin isa great place for cycling, and we justwant to share that with everyone."

J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 0 2